Journey to Underland
by kttykiwi
Summary: One day 10 year old Alice Kingsley fell down a rabbit hole and found herself in a place called Underland. After finally finding her way back home she recounts the time she spent there to her father, including her meeting with a young Princess Mirana AU


**Alice in Underland**

**By KttyKiwi**

**Alice tells the story of her first visit to Underland… **

**Rating: T **(for) general themes and wordiness

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Alice in Wonderland or anything associated with it, several people much more famous than me do.

**Summary: **_One day 10 year old Alice Kingsleigh fell down a rabbit hole and found herself in a place called Underland. After finally finding her way back home she recounts the time she spent there to her father, including her meeting with the young Princess Mirana of Marmoreal and the vow she made to protect her…_

**Pairings: **_Alice/Mirana friendship_

**Authors Notes: **_I got the idea for this story after having watched the 2010 movie release for a second time, and after having found that other people had written fan-fiction for this pairing. I actually had to sit down and watch the 1951 Disney release for the first time in over a decade, just so I could write this!_

_This story will be the first of a Trilogy and will follow an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE version of events for Alice's first Journey down the Rabbit Hole. The second story will follow an AU version of the 2010 movie events and will reference heavily back to this story. _

_Hopefully those of you who read this will enjoy my take on a classic…_

**(AiW)**

_**Chapter 1 – The Journey as Told by Alice to her Father**_

_**Part 1 – The day in General…**_

Ten year old Alice Kingsleigh, the youngest daughter of Charles and Helen Kingsleigh, laid tucked snuggly into her large -and wholly comfortable- bed after what seemed to her to be entirely too long. Her father, having sat himself in a nearby chair, observed her quietly before beginning their nightly routine.

"So my darling Alice, how has your day been?"

Alice, who was in fact quite tired though not in the least sleepy, thought upon this seemingly simple question for a moment before speaking. "If I were to talk about my day I must first think on whether I should speak of today in the general sense of the date, or whether I should instead speak of my day as in my goings on since we last spoke. Should I speak of the day in general I would say that it was like any other save the brief time I spent climbing from a rabbit hole I had fallen in. Should I speak of the day in the other sense I would have to say, that it was entirely too long."

Charles thought upon this rather strange answer, and wondered, _what could have happened to incite such a reply?_ Realizing that his curiosity would not answer itself he asked her to elaborate first on the day in general.

"Today in general was, as I said before, mostly like any other. Margaret and I spent time walking together until we had grown tired and sat for a spell beneath a nearby tree. As we sat Margaret took out her newest novel to read while I soon grew bored. When I could stand it no longer I left to explore the nearby area and came across a rather large rabbit hole, the same one in fact that I had mentioned having fallen down. After I had climbed back out I returned to find Margaret and continued to sit a while longer before returning home."

Charles had to agree with his daughter that the day in general did seem like any other in that nothing he had heard seemed out of the usual. Still this left him even more curious as to her initial answer. _It does not seem like much more could have occurred in the short time the girls were out of the house, perhaps something happened once they returned home?_

"Your day in general does seem to have been rather like any number of other days. So then, how was your day, in the sense of us last having spoken to each other?"

"You see father, this day which has been entirely too long, had begun in the same way as my day in general; with a sisterly walk and a fall down a rabbit hole. It is here however that my day becomes one of great length."

**(AiW)**

_**Part 2 –The too long Day…**_

I had never before thought that a rabbit hole could be so deep, but upon my fall I could think nothing else. It was taking such a long time, and there were so many strange things that I still wonder why a rabbit would need so many clocks and bookshelves. As I fell I remember thinking to myself that I would never again complain for having tumbled down the stairs, nor even if I should fall from the top of the house!

Finally I ended up in a hall of doors, each one a different size and all locked. It was not until I returned to the spot I had fallen to that I found a rather small key hanging from a hook on the wall nearby. It opened the smallest of the doors in the hall, one I had not found the first time as it was hidden by a large curtain.

The door was so small I do not think you could fit through it on hands and knees father, though I managed quite easily, and once through found myself in a small room containing simply a table and door.

The door in this room was even smaller than the one I had just come through, and even I could not get through no matter how much I squeezed. Looking around I found upon the table a bottle simply labeled 'Drink Me' and nothing else. Deciding that it would surely help me somehow, I drank a bit and watched as everything around me seemed to grow larger.

I was shrinking! Soon I was the perfect size to fit through the door, only it was locked. I had left the key upon the table and could not reach it no matter how I tried; surely I would be locked in until someone came for me. Telling myself not to worry, I searched the room again and found beneath the table a small box containing simply a cake with the words 'Eat Me' written upon it in chocolate.

I thought that if the drink had made me shrink, then maybe the cake would do the opposite. Taking a few bites I quickly grew to nearly reach the ceiling, though I was entirely too tall I could now reach the key, and carefully took it and the drink in hand.

Once more I shrank until I was just large enough to fit the door, and finally I was through and now found myself in the largest garden I had ever seen. I walked for a long time admiring the plants, and soon came upon a true forest where I eventually fell asleep.

I was woken by a young set of twin boys, named Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum who asked me to play a game with them. I agreed and they took me to their village where we played many games together. I also met Mr. Dodo who helped me out by taking me to the next village, and Mrs. Dodo who bandaged my arm.

When we reached the next village I met Mrs. McTwisp and her children, a family of Rabbits who wore clothes and played with me when it rained. Nivens, the youngest son, took me to visit the great Absolem, a blue caterpillar that liked to smoke.

He offered me some advice and his mushroom, one side would make me grow and the other would make me shrink again. After first shrinking even smaller, I managed to grow back to normal though I fear I grew a few inches taller than I started.

Following Absolem's advice I headed toward a place called Tulgey Wood, and the one named Chessur. When I met him, I was surprised that Chessur was indeed a cat, and one with such a peculiar grin at that. We spoke a while and he took me to a place known as Witzend, the home village of the royal hatter and his family.

I was invited to a tea party by the hatter's son, Tarrant, and his best friend a Hare named Thackery. I met a dormouse named Mallyumkin and we all celebrated our un-birthdays together. As Tarrant told me when I asked, there is one birthday for us each year, but there are 364 un-birthdays to celebrate as well.

I did not leave until Thackery threw a tea cup and hit me in the head, though I was sure he did not mean to do it in the first place. As I tried to find my way back to Witzend, as we had travelled to the March Hare's house for the party, I got lost and found myself deep in the woods.

Again I fell asleep, and this time woke to Chessur who had come to find me and take me to the Castle at Crims. The Queen and her youngest daughter would be able to send me home, he said, and then told me all he knew about the royal family after using his magic to create a door in the largest tree I have ever seen.

I came out in a hedge maze at the castle gardens, and once I had gotten out found several gardeners doing the oddest thing. They were painting the white roses red! When I asked they said that the Princess would have their heads for planting white roses when she had ordered red, especially since they were for her wedding to the Prince.

I helped them paint the remaining roses, but before we could finish the Princess Arrived. I should probably mention that this Princess was named Iracebeth and she was the older sister to the other Princess, whose name is Mirana. Otherwise it will get very confusing I should think.

Princess Iracebeth had arrived and when she saw that her roses had been painted ordered the gardeners executed! It was dreadful, I feared I may be next when she turned and asked me who I was. Luckily the Queen and Princess Mirana arrived before I had to answer, though now I was far more nervous, these were the people Chessur had told me about.

While the Queen and Princess Iracebeth spoke, Princess Mirana came over to speak with me. I must be honest father, I was at first very rude to her, though she did not seem to mind and laughed at me for blushing so when I tried to apologize. We spoke awhile and Chessur arrived to tell the Queen about sending me home. It seems he is very well known in all of Underland as everyone we met had known him.

The Queen said she would send me home after the Princess Iracebeth's wedding in 3 days, and then asked Mirana to keep me company until then as we were so close in age, her being 15 to my 10. We spent all day together playing and speaking of our lives, we quickly became best friends and soon it was as if we had known each other forever.

After the wedding, which was very lovely though a bit boring for its length, we travelled to the white city of Marmoreal, which is the capital of Underland. It was here that the Queen and Mirana would be able to send me home, though they had to wait until a full moon before doing so. Until then the Princess and I spent time walking the gardens and exploring the castle.

On one of our walks Mirana told me about the royal studies and how each person must choose one of the four to learn. Her sister studied Dominion of living things while the Princess chose to study Dominion of the Dead, as well as learning to be a healer. She spoke of how once her studies had completed she would take vows to never harm another living creature because she didn't want to use her studies for evil things.

**(AiW)**

_**Part 3 – A Father's Response**_

"Father?" Alice paused in her retelling; a slight frown on her face for fear of the trouble she knew would come at her next words.

"Please don't be cross with me, but when I was speaking to the Princess of her vows I swore an oath by blood and name that I would be strong enough to protect her when I next came to Underland. I know you have always told me to keep my word, and I gave it knowing full well of that."

Charles was struck dumb; his youngest daughter had sworn an oath of protection to royalty?

He was tempted to pass the entire tale off as a dream from hitting her head during the fall, but there were several small differences he had noticed as she had spoken of her adventure. Her slightly longer hair, tan skin, a taller frame, and even several small scars that had not been there only that morning all attested to time spent away.

"Go on Alice, What happened after that?"

"Oh, the Queen told us that I could go home on the full moon in a few days, and then after dinner would take me to talk of things together. She called me a Champion and told me that vows in Underland were kept by Magic, and that bad things happened to those who broke them."

"What kinds of bad things?"

"All kinds, but she said that some people died from breaking their vows and that Mirana would likely be one of them because of the type of vow she would make." Here Alice looked as if she might start crying, though Charles knew she would not.

"Did anything else happen to you?" To be honest he wasn't sure he could handle much else after the thought of talking animals, food that made you change sizes, and even a grinning cat!

"No, I was sent home using the Queens magic and found myself back at the rabbit hole. I thought you would have all missed me after being gone so long, but when I saw Margaret I knew only a little time had passed. At first I even thought I had simply dreamt it all, but my dress and the scar on my palm said I had not."

Here, Alice held her palm up to be seen by her father who took it in with a critical eye. The wound was long and had clearly been deep when first made, though now it had nearly finished its healing. Certainly Alice had not been wounded as such when last they spoke, and nothing but time could heal such a wound otherwise.

"How did you get this?"

"I used a small dagger to cut my palm when I swore my oath; the Princess gave me a cream to help heal it faster too, though I left that behind."

Charles let that fact seep into his mind a moment before speaking once more. "It seems you were correct my Darling, your day has been a very long one indeed. It is time to sleep now though, we can speak more of things in the morning." He carefully tucked her into bed, silently noting each little change to mull over later, and wished her sweet dreams before leaving her.

The quiet call of, "Good night father" following him all the way to his study.

**(AiW)**

_END NOTES: _

_FINALLY it's DONE! And it only took a month from thought to this drafts completion… _

_In any case next chapter will be the beginning of the IN DEPTH adventures of Alice including all the things she forgot or simply didn't mention when telling the story to her father… give it another month till it's posted ;p_


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